Tag: Richie Sambora

Bon Jovi has just released their 12th Album, What About Now. Those of you looking for another Slippery When Wet or New Jersey, you will have to keep looking, this album isn’t it. I can’t even call this a hard rock album, it simply is not. What About Now is more of a mainstream pop rock album.

Jon Bon Jovi’s voice is in fine form, and he sounds great, but the music is too poppy to hold my interest for very long. Bon Jovi has always been a band that has spread its wings and tried it’s hand at different musical styles. While as a hard rock album, this may be an epic fail, as a pop rock album, it isn’t too bad. The music just isn’t what I want to hear on a Bon Jovi album. I long for the hard rock style that made Bon Jovi famous. I guess the millions of dollars the band is making touring has allowed them to become a genre defying act. Good for them, bad for the hard rock fans out there.

What About Now might not be the epic disaster that the countrified clay pigeon Lost Highway was, but it still won’t hold much appeal to the hard rock fans out there. The big stadium anthems and heavy riffs of their earlier music can’t be found on the new album. That is the style of Bon Jovi music I enjoy, and for that reason I just can’t get into listening to this.

What About Now leaves me with this final thought, “What About The Rock”!? It is still okay to rock Jon! Your new album does not.

This is perhaps a shallow perspective on What About Now, but this hard rock fan probably won’t give this CD any more plays beyond today.

If you have an open mind, and are a fan of pop/rock or possibly even Christian rock, by all means, give What About Now a shot. If your taste in music leans towards the harder style of rock or heavy metal music, you will probably want to avoid this album. Tread at your own risk!

Rating: Out of 10

Track Listing:
1. Because We Can
2. I’M With You
3. What About Now
4. Pictures of You
5. Amen
6. That’s What The Water Made Me
7. What’s Left of Me
8. Army of One
9. Thick as Thieves
10. Beautiful World
11. Room At The End of The World
12. The Fighter

Taking up where iconic bands like Deep Purple and Bad Company left off, Heaven & Earth is on a mission to resurrect the sanctity of classic rock in its purest, most accessible form on their third studio album titled Dig. Due out on Quarto Valley Records, Dig was produced by Dave Jenkins, who’s worked with everyone from Metallica to Tower of Power – and features special guests Howard Leese (Heart, Paul Rodgers), Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi), and David Paich (Toto).

The band have recently released a special behind the scenes look into the making of Dig and what brought these five musicians together to make such a “classic” sounding record. The clip premiered on AOL Noisecreep earlier this week and can be seen here.

The band’s founder and visionary, Stuart Smith, had this to say about Dig, “I feel that with the crafting of the songs on this album, the incredible band we’ve put together, especially with powerhouse vocalist Joe Retta and the unwavering support of Quarto Valley Records’ President, Bruce Quarto, we really have a shot at getting Heaven & Earth the attention it deserves. This album is by far, the best thing I have ever done in my life.”

Smith, who spent the 70’s bending strings with numerous groups before he distinguished himself by making the acquaintance of Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore, who mentored the up-and-coming musician. At the urging of Blackmore, Smith made his way to Los Angeles and began planting the seeds of what was to become Heaven & Earth. Now with the release of Dig on the near horizon, the guitarist says Heaven & Earth is a true band, an energized collective of like-minded musicians who are excited at bringing its unique, celestial brand of rock to audiences all over the world. “All the pieces are in place,” he explains with graceful candor. “We’re ready to make this our year.”

The album cover for Dig was created by acclaimed photographer Glen Wexler, who has shot over 300 album covers, including records by Van Halen, Black Sabbath, and Michael Jackson.

The track listing for Dig is as follows:

1. Victorious
2. No Money, No Love
3. I Don’t Know What Love Is
4. Man & Machine
5. House of Blues
6. Back in Anger
7. Waiting for the End of The World
8. Sexual Insanity
9. Rock & Roll Does
10. A Day Like Today
11. Good Times
12. Live as One
To stay current on all things Heaven and Earth follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

When Bon Jovi released their previous album, Lost Highway, I was more than a little harsh on the band. I was not fond of band’s country direction in the least bit. I swore off Bon Jovi until they returned to playing rock music. Lucky for me,and their long time fans they have. It took a couple of years, but the band is back with a new rock album, The Circle. This album treads a fine line between pop and rock. Bon Jovi is no stranger to crafting tunes in this fashion, and they are quite good at it. Their pop metal days are long over, and if you are looking for another dose of tunes in the vein of their early material. You won’t find it here.

The opening cut, “We Weren’t Born To Follow” is more of a pop/rock tune, but it reminds me of the music that was on the 2005 CD, Have A Nice Day.

“When We Were Beautiful” has this jangly guitar tone that has an almost U2 feel to it. This song has a sing along chorus that will translate well in Bon Jovi’s live show. I must admit that this song is kind of a grower. I didn’t care for it at first, but a few repeat plays I have changed my mind.

The bass line on “Work for the Working Man” took me all the way back to Slippery When Wet. It literally sounds as if it was ripped off of the Bon Jovi classic “Livin’ On a Prayer”. With that being said, “Work for the Working Man” isn’t a bad tune, but it isn’t great either. The background vocals don’t really work for me. It just seems kind of silly.

“Superman Tonight” is another song that has some serious hit potential. The chorus is catchy and memorable. This is one of my favorites on The Circle.

The voice coder intro in the beginning of “Bullet” give the song a familiar Bon Jovi feel. Finally some heavier riffs show up in the song “Bullet”. Richie Sambora finally cuts loose a little on this tune, and I am thankful. This album needed a heavier tune, and this is it.

“Thorn in My Side” keeps the pace going well, and is one of the more rockin’ songs on this disc.

“Live Before You Die” is a story teller type of song. Bon Jovi has done a few of these songs in the past, and I have never really cared for these. This is an ok tune, and I am sure it will appeal to some folks.

Just when I was starting to get a little bored, “Brokenpromieland” comes along and makes me hit replay a couple of times. I love Sambora’s guitar tone on this song.

“Love is The Only Rule” almost sounds like a Neil Diamond tune with some heavier riffs. Every time I hear this tune, Jon Bon Jovi’s vocal delivery reminds me of that for some reason. The funny thing is, it works for the most part.

Is it just me, or does “Fast Cars” sound like a Coldplay tune? The keyboards and guitar tone sound more like that band than a Bon Jovi tune. I didn’t really care for this tune very much.

The Circle will be in stores tomorrow. Is it worth picking up? While I don’t think this is the best Bon Jovi album, it is far from their worst. The production from John Shanks is top notch, but the album could have used a few heavier moments. If you are looking for the big monster pop metal rockers like the band used to put out in the eighties and early nineties, you aren’t going to find them on The Circle. This is a solid pop rock album with a few hard edges here and there.

Rating: Out of 10

Track Listing:

1. We Weren’t Born to Follow
2. When We Were Beautiful
3. Work for the Working Man
4. Superman Tonight
5. Bullet
6. Thorn in My Side
7. Live Before You Die
8. Brokenpromiseland
9. Love’s the Only Rule
10. Fast Cars
11. Happy Now
12. Learn to Love

Richie Sambora is set to replace Bret Michaels in the next season of TV dating show Rock of Love, according to reports.

Poison frontman Michaels recently wrapped season two when he chose aspiring actress Ambre Lake as the winner and his new girlfriend.

Despite the first season being exposed as a fraud–the winning contestant already had a boyfriend–Michaels and Lake insist this time it is for real, and they are handing the show over to another single star.

Bon Jovi guitarist Sambora, 48, has been single since his April 2007 divorce from actress Heather Locklear and a short-lived romance with Locklear’s former friend Denise Richards ended last year.

And TV bosses want to help him find love. A source tells OK! magazine, “He’s perfect for TV. If you thought Bret was must-see TV, you ain’t seen anything yet. Richie is going to be a train wreck looking for love.”

Some CD’s should come with yellow and black warning labels that say, “Play at your own Risk!”

Lost Highway is the CD that I knew I would have trouble listening to. The band has thrown away their hard rock sound, for a pop rock / country hybrid that sounds nothing like their past CD’s.

I found this CD completely devoid of the great hooks that Bon Jovi has been known for. If anything Lost Highway is a boring sellout that will probably be played to death on multiple radio formats. If Bon Jovi continues down this musical highway, I doubt they will be covered at the Hard Rock Hideout any longer.

Judging from the 63 used copies that I saw at Amazon today, Bon Jovi fans are discarding this disc faster than Mercury Nashville can print them.

There is one song that almost sounds like old Bon Jovi. If you listen to one song, play We Got It Going On. Load that song on your hard drive, then take the CD outside, and use it for a Clay Pigeon. You will get more enjoyment out of it that way.

The song Make a Memory is getting massive amounts of play on the radio right now, and has hit #1 on VH1’s Top 20 countdown.

I just don’t get it. I find this song, and disc boring. It is hard for me to believe that this is the same band that put out Slippery When Wet. If I was the guitar player, I think I would find myself in rehab. I would have drink myself into a coma, if I had to play these incredibly monotonous tunes.

Don’t waste your money on this CD. There are far better discs out there than this one.

Rating: Out of 10

Track Listing:
1. Lost Highway
2. Summertime
3. Make a Memory
4. Whole Lot Of Leaving
5. We Got It Going On
6. Any Other Day
7. Seat Next To You
8. Everybody’s Broken
9. Stranger (feat. Leann Rimes)
10. The Last Night
11. One Step Closer
12. I Love This Town